Page 31 of Rescued Dreams (Last Chance Fire and Rescue #8)

THIRTY

R idge’s awareness came back slowly. The tang in the air smelled like smoke and something chemical and hit his throat, making him cough. His body jerked with the motion, and pain exploded in his chest. He let out a moan but only heard the roar of his own breath in his ears.

He blinked. Smoke hung in the air, but he didn’t have his helmet on or his air tank. What was…

The truck lay on its side on the street.

Light from the afternoon sun beamed through the front windshield, illuminating the particles in the air and the smoke all around them. Fire.

They’d been driving along, shooting the breeze. Blowing off steam. Relieved the bank situation had been resolved without anyone getting killed. He’d been praying quietly for the manager, that his heart attack hadn’t been fatal.

Then… boom.

Ridge shifted, his shoulders at an odd angle. Even inhaling made fire flash through his chest. He gritted his teeth against the pain and tried to get his bearings.

Izan’s legs were under him, his buddy knocked out cold by the look of it. Between Ridge and the seat. On his other side, toward the front, the floater, Warren Kaminsky, lay at an odd angle, blood running down from an open wound on the side of his face.

Ridge jerked into motion, causing more pain to roll through his chest. He looked around for something to press against Warren’s head. The medical duffel…It was farther back down the truck, stored in a cabinet on the exterior. Now between the engine and the ground they were lying on.

What on earth had flipped the truck onto its side?

He heard yelling voices but couldn’t make them out. Focus. He couldn’t put pressure on an open wound that big. It looked like a section of Warren’s skull had been crushed. Ridge sniffed back tears that wanted to fall down his cheeks.

Izan was still out. Over the front seat, he spotted Della’s dark hair, but not Amelia.

“Hey!”

He twisted around and saw an older man in the open rear door, lying so he could see into the truck cab. Ridge said, “We need help.”

“We called it in. One of your people was here earlier, but I don’t know where they went.” The man’s face reddened. “Give me your hand. I’ll get you out of there.”

Ridge shook his head. “I’ll pass you one of these guys. Can you lift them?”

“No, but someone else up here might. One sec.” He slid out of sight.

Ridge realized the guy must’ve climbed up there. He didn’t even know what street they were on or who’d caused the back of the truck to blow. It had sounded like an explosion, and in the moment, they’d all gone airborne, as if seatbelts were a figment of the imagination.

He checked Warren’s pulse, then looked at the door above. “We need a basket.”

“Ridge!” Bryce’s head appeared in the open door. Eddie held the door pushed back, up in the air. It was an odd sensation to have them looking down on him. To be the victim.

He tried to process what to ask for first.

Bryce looked at his rescue squad guys and said, “Get the basket.”

Ridge could’ve cried right then. He touched a hand to his chest and breathed through the pain.

“Did you crack ribs?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.” Ridge looked up. “What happened?”

“Once we get you all in ambulances, we can figure out the answer to that question.” Bryce lowered his legs into the open doorway, set his boots on the back of the seat between rows, and lowered himself to sit there. He looked in front.

“Are they…” Ridge was scared to ask. He pushed off the door to sit up, trying to create enough room they could get Warren out as fast as possible.

“Della is out cold.” Bryce looked around. “Where’s Amelia?”

“What—”

“Basket!” Zack lowered it through the door and Ridge reached up, but Bryce caught it.

The lieutenant said, “Get Izan out of the way so we can load Warren in there. He doesn’t look good.”

“He still has a pulse.” Ridge rolled Izan so he was tucked against the seat. The guy stirred, coming around. Ridge braced Izan out of the way with the back of his shoulder, which left his hands free. “Easy, Collins.”

Bryce angled his legs into the small gap, lifted Warren by his armpits, and hoisted him onto the basket. A few seconds later, he had the straps secured. “Go!”

Zack and Eddie lifted the basket up out of the truck, and Ridge spotted a flash of Zoe’s dark hair. The fact it was them made Ridge feel better, if only a little. Thank You, Lord.

Izan came awake yelling, flailing his arms.

“Whoa, buddy.” Bryce caught him, and Ridge found a space to switch places with the lieutenant.

He scrambled to the back of the front seats and hoisted his body over enough to see around the seat, his head swimming with the disorientation of everything being sideways. “Amelia—” She wasn’t here.

Della blinked up at him, crumpled against the passenger door.

Bryce said, “I asked where she was. I thought she went with you guys.”

“She did.” Ridge reached over the seat to Della. “Let’s get out of here.”

She grabbed his wrists, and he pulled her up. Ridge gritted his teeth against the pain in his chest. Della let go of his hands and got herself up. “You’re hurt.”

Bryce looked over his shoulder at Ridge. “I’ll get Izan. Della, you’re with Ridge.”

“Copy that, Lieutenant.”

Ridge didn’t like that they felt they had to take charge to get him out, managing his injury when Della had been in the same crash. But if it was going to be anyone, he was glad it was them. “What happened to Amelia? She should be in here with us.”

Della said, “Feels like someone stepped on me.” She waited for Bryce to haul Izan up out of the open door, where he was pulled out by Eddie and Zoe, which meant Zack had gone with Warren to make sure the guy got to the ambulance.

Ridge needed Amelia. “Where is she?”

Della and Bryce held on to him, steadying Ridge so he didn’t fall over. He reached one arm up, and Eddie caught it. When his friend started to pull him out, pain flashed through Ridge’s middle. He cried out. Eddie let go, and Ridge slumped back down.

Bryce wriggled Ridge’s T-shirt up out of his belt and looked at his chest while Ridge just stood there and breathed through the pain.

Della let out a hiss through clenched teeth at what they saw.

Ridge said, “I don’t need the basket.”

“You’ve probably got broken ribs. No one is pulling you out.”

Della said, “We’ll give you a boost. Send you up.”

Ridge had to nod, because the other alternative was being helpless. “Get me out of here. Someone has to have seen what happened to Amelia.”

Bryce made a cradle with his hands, and Ridge stepped into it. “Meg was on the sidewalk. She saw the whole thing, since it happened right in front of the Bridgewater Café.”

Eddie caught Ridge under the shoulders. Zoe pulled him onto the side of the truck until they were sitting over the insignia on the driver’s door. Della climbed out, followed by Bryce. The crowd of a few people who’d gathered on the sidewalk started to applaud.

Except Meg.

Ridge got down, thanks to a little help, and led the way to where the café owner stood on the edge of the curb.

Traffic had stopped. An ambulance pulled around the corner at the end of the street.

Probably a second rig, deployed to the call because the first had taken Warren to the hospital already.

Rescue’s intact truck was parked behind Truck 14.

He might need a second to get his bearings on solid ground, but there was no time.

Zack wandered to his left side, Della on the right.

Ridge said, “Where’s Amelia?”

“Dude,” Zack cautioned.

“Did you see her, Meg?”

The café owner sniffed, and tears rolled down her cheeks. He knew who she was but didn’t think he’d ever talked to her other than to give her his coffee order. And that hadn’t been for a long time, since he’d cut out expensive coffee to save some money when he bought the town house.

“He took her.”

“What—” Ridge moved one arm around his ribs. He wasn’t going to the hospital. He was going to find Amelia.

Della said, “What happened, Meg?”

“He was dressed like a firefighter, so everyone thought he was one of you guys. He climbed down into the truck and used this strap thing around her to pull her out.”

Della shifted, rubbing her shoulder. “That’s why my arm feels like it’s been stepped on.”

Meg bit her lip. “He said he needed to get her to the hospital fast. No one said anything because we all thought he was a firefighter. No one else had climbed up there yet. We didn’t know.”

Ridge set his hand on her shoulder. “Did you see his face?”

“I don’t know if it was Nicholas. It wasn’t her brother.”

He frowned. “You know about her ex?”

“Amelia is my best friend. Our fathers died in the same fire.”

“Steven Hilden didn’t die in a fire.” Ridge wasn’t sure what she was talking about.

“Not him.” Meg’s expression shifted to disgust. “Matt Patterson. The firefighter her mom married.”

“Right. She told me about him.” Ridge wanted to squeeze the bridge of his nose, but that would mean letting go of his ribs.

“We didn’t know you guys were close,” Zack said.

Meg shrugged. “We were supposed to have lunch today, since it’s been a few days and we haven’t caught up.”

Ridge said, “If I can show you a photo of Nicholas, do you think you can ID the man who took her?”

Meg nodded. “If you show me his picture, I’ll tell you if it was him or not.”

Ridge squeezed her shoulder. “Thanks.”

“Just find her. Because I don’t think he took her to the hospital.”

“Would Nicholas blow up a fire truck?” It couldn’t have been Elam, though he wouldn’t put it past the guy to get a friend to do this. He was currently in jail, however. Ridge couldn’t help wondering if there was a connection between what had happened at the bank…and this.

Seemed like a golden opportunity for someone with ill intentions to deal Truck 14 a serious blow. Had Nicholas used the cover of the robbery to get his hands on Amelia?

Meg’s face flushed. “Nicholas has left her alone for years. Why would he come here now?”

“If it isn’t him,” Ridge said, “then we have no idea who took her. Or why they would.”

And they’d have no idea where to find her.

If it wasn’t Elam and it wasn’t Nicholas, then someone else had it in for her, and Ridge had been blind to it. This wasn’t about the money in that bank account. It was about Amelia herself.

And all her nightmares coming true.

Della turned to look at the truck, which was still smoldering, though the rest of rescue squad were dealing with it. “There’s something seriously not right about this.”

Ridge spotted Kane sprinting toward them, Maria right behind him. He nearly collapsed in relief, seeing his family rushing to help them. With their skills and the firefighters’ knowledge of the area, they’d locate her. They would. Before it was too late.

“We’ll figure it out, Della.” He promised her as much as he promised himself.

He prayed it happened fast, because the longer she was missing, the greater the risk that Ridge would lose her. The woman who’d come to mean so much to him that he didn’t want to live without her.

Lord, where is she?